


November Has Come

by featheredpranks



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-30
Updated: 2012-09-30
Packaged: 2017-11-15 08:08:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/525054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/featheredpranks/pseuds/featheredpranks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean never forgets his mother. Sam never forgets Jess. Against all odds, the two help them make it through every November twenty-second.</p>
            </blockquote>





	November Has Come

**Author's Note:**

> Title take from November Has Come - Gorrillaz

 

_Something's starting today_   
_Where did he go? why you wanted to be?_   
_Well you know, november has come_   
_When it's gone away.._

* * *

The day is never spent alone. Ever since that fateful night at Stanford, Sam and Dean Winchester find themselves even closer in the last days of November. It’s not something either of them acknowledge except for a quiet, seemingly unimportant toast in a run down bar. Dean doesn’t allow chick-flick moments and this day is no different. 

On November 22nd of no particular year, Dean digs out a old Beatles tape from somewhere inside the Impala. Sam pretends not to notice this but it’s practically immaculate  Dean’s classic rock cassettes are care-worn and scratched from midnight tape changing but this one never changes. He plays it once a year, never more than three times on today. Whenever they’re on the road, it’s just on. He hums softly to ”Hey Jude” and, to be fair, every other song on the tape. Never singing along, he lets the voices wash over him.

Mary was never able to comfort Dean before her boys had returned to Lawrence, ready to save other people and strike down the horrors of the night. She had waited silently and patiently, avoiding the loop of her final minutes of life. Mary was not there to haunt or as a reminder. She just wasn’t ready to go. Now her work was done. Her boys were safe as was her house and anyone who chose to lead their lives from within its walls. Heaven stretched its arms out and she fell into them.

Dean couldn’t pinpoint why exactly he was feeling alright. The Impala suddenly swelled with the scent of shampoo and perfume, pie and bubble bath. He fought to concentrate as “Hey Jude” started back up again. Sam snored lightly and shifted in the passenger seat. Mary Winchester placed a hand her son’s freckled face as he pulled over. Dean brought a hand to his face, worrying the patch that was suddenly warm despite the autumn air. A few minutes later, his mother removed her hand and disappeared from the back seat. Dean felt the loss intensely, but he slept better that night and the next.

*******

On the first anniversary of Jessica Moore’s death, Sam Winchester downs two shots of whiskey before he stops. Dean doesn’t tease him about it. He might not understand why Sam doesn’t want to drink his grief away but he’s not going to get a blackeye behind asking. Sam’s hand shakes just a little as he flips it over, denying more alcohol. He examines the calluses on his hands, the burns on his knuckles, the grime under his nails. They looked nothing like this when Jess had last held them. Sam takes a motel key from his brother and heads back. He hasn’t slept in the past few days, not much. He is counting on crushing guilt and sorrow to send him into oblivion tonight.

Jessica Moore was exceptionally normal by all definitions. And as most do, she succumbed to the numbing pain and horror of her death and gave the reaper her hand. Once such an act is done, it cannot be retracted but Jess fought to reach out to Sam, to warn him, to touch him one last time. As the house burns down around their ethereal forms, the reaper pulls her into its arms and takes her away.

Sam inhales the aroma of chocolate chip cookies and honeysuckle flowers, not at all surprised to find tears building in his eye. He pressed his palms against his eyes, resisting the urge to wipe the tears away. If anything, the smells grow more persistent. He glances quickly around the room, under the table, to the ceiling, just to make sure, and grabs his stuff for a shower. Sam represses hunter instincts when he suddenly feels warmer and more secure than the luke-warm water should allow. The strawberry shampoo scent can’t be real but he wants it to be. He allows it. Just for tonight, he allows it. And as the youngest Winchester lay in the motel bed, there’s the phantom sensation of someone stroking his hair, breathing in his ear and sharing their warmth. Remembering Orpheus and his tragic love, Eurydice, Sam resists the urge to turn around and slips into a dreamless sleep. Feeling Heaven call again, Jess fades away at midnight. In his sleep, Sam curls into himself and shivers.

**Author's Note:**

> This little strange thing came about due to the fact that I watched the Doctor Who Season 5 finale The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang last night (Aug 7, 2012). I was thinking about how people who are gone aren’t really gone because of the memories of their loved ones. So in this, Mary and Jess are able to return in limited form when the memories of their boys brings them back: November 22nd. 
> 
> I’m not sure I actually knew that date but it was on a Sam roleplay blog that it happened on the same date.


End file.
